Biphenyl derivatives are compounds widely used in the fields of organic chemistry and polymer chemistry, being useful in industrial applications across a wide range of fields such as fine chemicals, pharmaceutical and agricultural raw materials, raw material for resins and plastics, electronic and information materials, and optical materials.
A process for the production of biphenyl derivatives is known wherein aromatic halides are used as the starting substrate. Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. S63-295520 (Examples 1, 2, 3, 4) proposes a process wherein a Grignard reagent of aromatic chlorides and aromatic bromides are made to react in the presence of a nickel catalyst. At the same time, ORGANIC LETTERS, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2005), 491-493; and ORGANIC LETTERS, Vol. 7, No. 10 (2005), 1943-1946 propose a process wherein aromatic iodides or aromatic bromides are made to react with magnesium to form a Grignard reagent, and then two molecules of the Grignard reagent are coupled to each other using an iron chloride (III) catalyst in the presence of an oxidizing agent.
However, with the process described in Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. S63-295520 (Examples 1, 2, 3, 4), the yield of biphenyl derivatives has been low in the case where the substrate that reacts with the Grignard reagent is an aromatic chloride, and thus the process has not been suitable for industrial use. In addition, with the production process described in ORGANIC LETTERS, Vol. 7, No. 3 (2005), 491-493 and ORGANIC LETTERS, Vol. 7, No. 10 (2005), 1943-1946, although the reactivity of the starting substrate is high, expensive aromatic iodides or aromatic bromides; are used, and for this reason the produced biphenyl derivatives have also become expensive.
It could therefore be advantageous to provide a process for the production of biphenyl derivatives that are excellent in industrial productivity by virtue of the use of inexpensive and easily available raw materials.